WO 2003/015999 A2 discloses an electrical shaving apparatus that incorporates a light source, wherein a switch is provided to actuate the light source. In one embodiment, a sensor switch is provided that detects an application of pressure or force on a shearing foil which triggers an actuation of the light source.
As used herein, personal care appliances may involve, but are not limited to, grooming appliances, hair cutting appliances, trimming appliances, shaving appliances, hair styling appliances, massage appliances, curling appliances, dental care appliances, skin care appliances, etc.
Frequently, personal care appliances are used in a self-treating fashion by a user. This may take place in a bathroom or a similar environment. For instance, shaving and trimming processes for the head hair/scalp hair and the facial hair are typically performed in front of a mirror. It has been observed that lighting conditions have a great influence on the visibility of the appliance and the to-be-treated region which also involves that ease-of-operation is greatly dependent on the actual illumination state of the to-be-treated zone.
For instance, when a hair cutting appliance, particularly a shaving appliance, is used for cutting facial hair, illumination conditions may vary at the transition from the chin to the neck of the user. For instance, when a top frontal light source is used which is for instance arranged above a bathroom mirror or even at the ceiling, a frontal region of the face is sufficiently illuminated, whereas the neck portion that is covered by the skin, is considerably dark and shadowy. By contrast, when a bottom light source is used which is arranged to upwardly illuminate the treatment zone, the neck beneath the chin may be sufficiently illuminated which, however, may have the effect that then the frontal face region is darkened with respect to the illuminated neck region.
Therefore, a user may have to turn and/or bow his/her head so as to make sure that the actual treatment zone is sufficiently illuminated. This may cause discomfort and inconveniences.
A potential remedy involves providing a plurality of light sources that are for instance arranged in the vicinity of a bathroom mirror so as to illuminate the user, particularly the face of the user, from various angles and at different illumination directions.
However, also an overall lighting approach may involve several drawbacks. For instance, if an overall brightness level is way too high, this may also cause discomfort. Further, brightness and darkness are typically perceived in a relative fashion. Hence, a certain contrast ratio between illuminated and non-illuminated regions would further facilitate handling the personal care appliance, even in considerably dark environments.
Hence, there is still room for improvements in adaptive lighting systems for personal care appliances.